


Road Test

by JustAnotherWriter (N1ghtshade)



Series: Advent Calendar Gift Fics [13]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Gen, Team Bonding, Team as Family, jack is a great father figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-13
Updated: 2018-12-13
Packaged: 2019-09-17 16:36:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16978146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/N1ghtshade/pseuds/JustAnotherWriter
Summary: Jack’s pursuit driving scores were the highest in his class at the Farm. He’s almost as proud of that as breaking the long-range sniper record while he was in training.So of course he’s the logical choice to train Riley.





	Road Test

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KatieComma](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatieComma/gifts).



Jack’s pursuit driving scores were the highest in his class at the Farm. He’s almost as proud of that as breaking the long-range sniper record while he was in training. 

He credits Pops and the combination of the GTO on Texas backcountry dirt roads, and the farm truck across gopher-hole-infested fields, with his ability to handle anything, on any terrain. Most recruits come from cities where the most dangerous thing they’ve done is run a red light or make a questionable merge. Jack’s put the GTO in a full 360 spin on glare ice, the winter it was bad and the whole state practically shut down because Texas isn’t like the more northern areas that are prepared for those kind of winters. 

So of course he’s the logical choice to train Riley. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be any easier. This should be a piece of cake, he thinks, when he gets the training car out and parks it behind the Phoenix. He trained Mac to do all this, and the kid spent the entire time rattling off useless physics formulas and random crap about vehicle engines and the multiple uses of old tires. 

But he didn’t try to help Mac prep for driver’s training when the kid was a stubborn fifteen-year-old with a chip on his shoulder and a problem with authority figures. He’s not easily going to forget Riley taking every opportunity to argue with him as they drove his car and her mom’s around their subdivision. 

She’s standing at the back door of the Phoenix, and with her ripped out jeans, red crop top, and leather jacket, she still looks like the same defiant teenager. Except that she’s not. Jack would trust her with his life; he has, on more than one occasion. Riley’s become a smart, still independent, but responsible and loyal young woman.

And now he’s going to make her the second best pursuit driver in the Phoenix. Because there’s no way she’s stealing his record. 

He parks the car and gets out. “All yours. Let’s see what you can get outta this baby, okay?”

Riley slides into the drivers’ seat and adjusts it to accommodate her height. “Please tell me this won’t be like when you tried to teach me to drive a stick.”

“You learned, didn’t you?”

“Yes, and every time I get in one I can hear you repeatedly shouting ‘Clutch, brake, gas’.” 

Jack chuckles. “Okay, well, get ready to get ‘accelerate, brake, turn’ ingrained in your head today.” 

Phoenix has a deal with the local police academy that allows them to use the training area for their agents as well. Over the course of the next four hours, Jack walks Riley through high-speed turns, pulling out of a skid, maneuvers to knock out a pursuing or pursued vehicle while doing the least amount of damage to her own, and controlled crashes. Obviously they can’t actually do all the maneuvers, or Matty would make Jack pay for the demolished car, but Riley’s smart and she picks it up fast. 

Finally Jack tells her to pull out. “We’ll take a few hours, come back at night and run the whole thing again.” She nods. “Turn right up there, there’s a little diner that’s got pretty decent burgers and awesome milkshakes.” 

She grins. “This  _ does _ feel like being fifteen all over again.”

“I took you out for ice cream that time.”

“Because you felt bad for making me cry when I got the car stuck over the parking curb.”

“You gotta admit it looked funny with the bumper hanging by one bolt.”

“It was not funny then! I thought I ruined your car.” Riley shakes her head. “I almost lost it today when I got us stuck in the mud section.” 

“Yeah, but you didn’t. You got out of there, and you kept going.” Jack smiles as she parks and they both climb out. “That’s somethin’ you were always real good at. You made mistakes, but you learned from ‘em, picked yourself up, and kept going.”

“Sometimes that’s an awful way to learn.” He can’t argue with that. She shouldn’t have had to spend two years in prison to learn some of those lessons. But he can’t deny that she’s never let it make her anything but stronger. 

“Get whatever you want, I’ve got it tonight.” He grins.

“Seriously, you don’t have to do that.”

“Yeah, I do.” He feels the smile slip away for a minute. “I left before I got to see you pass that driver’s test. I knew you woulda been glad you made me proud if I’d been there. I wish I’d stuck around. Gotten to take you out to celebrate.” He sighs. “You’re not the only one who made a lotta mistakes they learned from a little too late.”

“Jack.” Riley stops with her hand on the door. “You just said the thing you appreciated was that I learn and move on. You have to start doing that too.” 

He raises an eyebrow. “Gonna throw me words back at me like that, huh?”

“Oh absolutely.” She smirks. “That good ol’ Jack Dalton wisdom.” 

“You know what else is a good piece of wisdom?” Jack asks, following her through the door. “When someone offers to buy your dinner, order the large milkshake. And the peanut butter chocolate one here’s their best.”

They sit and talk about everything and nothing over greasy burgers and milkshakes that give them both brain-freeze at almost the same time. And then it’s back to the track for the night drive. They only get stuck once. 

He hands Matty Riley’s signed-off certificate in the morning.

And when he sees Riley bash a dump truck through the gates of the compound in Ghana, or hears that she ran a big rig through mountains and managed not to get Mac killed while he was on the back of it, Jack can’t help but smile.  _ That’s my girl _ . 


End file.
